By Eugene Garner

ISAIAH - CHAPTER 10

ASSYRIA, THE INSTRUMENT OF GOD'S WRATH

   WOE unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; To turn aside the needy from Judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

    1. Judgment is declared against those who, by rulings that are iniquitous if not illegal, deprive widows, orphans, and the needy of their rights and actually prey upon their helplessness, (vs. 1-2; 5:23; 29:20-21; 59:4, 1:3; 1:23; 3:14-15).
    2. The wealth accumulated through oppression and injustice will be of no value in the storm which is about to break upon them, (2:12; 5:25-29; 20:6; 29:6-7).
    3. Since the Lord has delivered them over to judgment, there will be no one to help; thus, they will be humiliated and led captive, (vs. 4; Jer. 9:9; Hos. 9:7; Isa. 24:21-22).
    4. Even then the Lord's anger "is not turned away"; since divine discipline has failed, they must face divine judgment!

   O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but It is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Caino as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the Idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and Samaria; Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her Idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

    1. A "woe" is pronounced upon the Assyrian even though God will use him as an instrument in the disciplining of His erring people, (vs. 5; comp. 9:19).
    2. Through the Assyrian the Lord will unleash His wrath upon a profane nation; He commissions him to take spoil and prey, (37:26-27; Jer. 34:22) - bringing them to extreme degradation.
    3. The Assyrian, however, fails to view himself as God's instrument; in the arrogancy of his own proud heart, he lays ambitious plans for world conquest, (vs. 7; comp. Mic. 4:11-12; Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23-24).
    4. The proof of his boastfulness, selfishness and pride is clearly set forth in verses 8-11.
      a. He boasts of his princes as kings: wise, subtle and powerful, (vs. 8).
      b. He boasts of his achievements: with apparent ease his armies have taken the wealth of one city after another - their accumulation of protective idols falling helplessly before his onslaught.
      c. Samaria, the capitol of the northern kingdom (Israel), is no different from the others - for God has given her up to exile.
      d. Nor will the Assyrian be satisfied with Samaria; according to his view, Judah and Jerusalem need not think their God (or gods, as he reasoned) can save them from his powerful hand, (vs. 11; comp. 36:18-20; 37:10-13).

   Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord bath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standard bearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be law, that a child may write them.

    1. When the Lord has accomplished his disciplinary purpose upon His people, He will then punish the arrogance and haughtiness of the Assyrian - putting an end to it by the infliction of His vengeance in an extraordinary way, (vs. 12, 33-34; 14:25; 30:31-33; 31:8.9).
    2. Again, the Assyrian is seen boasting of his own military power, political sagacity and the ease with which he has gathered the wealth of nations without any effective opposition, (vs. 13-14; 37:24-27; 2 Kings 19:22-24; Hab. 2:6-8; comp. Jer. 48:16).
    3. That boasting is inappropriate and premature; the story is not yet complete, (vs. 15; comp. vs. 5; Jer. 51:20; Isa. 29:16; 45:9).
    4. The fiery indignation of the Lord of Hosts will, in a single day, bring the Assyrian to such utter humiliation and bankruptcy of military might that "the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few", (vs. 16-19; 30:33; 31:9; 37:23; 33:10-12; Jer. 21:14; Ezek. 20:47-48; comp. Isa. 21:17).

   And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again slay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.

    1. Ahaz, fearing the alliance of Israel and Syria (and afraid to depend on God for protection), has sought aid from Assyria - relieving his immediate distress, but setting the stage for unimagined evil, (2 Kings 16:7-8).
    2. When the Lord has delivered them from their oppressors the remnant of His people will have learned, in truth, that the Holy One of Israel is their only real security, (vs. 20; 17:7-8; 50:10; comp. 2 Chron. 14:11).
    3. In verse 21 there is an obvious reference to "Shear-Jashub" (a remnant shall return) - the symbolic name of the prophet's oldest son, (7:3; 6:13).
    4. This is a far-reaching prophecy concerning the extensive judgments whereby the covenant people (once numerous as the sands of the sea) shall be reduced to a remnant, (vs. 22; Rom. 9:27-28; Isa. 28:22; Dan. 9:27).
    5. The Lord will bring them to an end of their presumptuous willfulness, that they may learn to trust Him and Him alone, (vs. 23; 6:11-12).

   Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, 0 my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages: They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift up thy voice, 0 daughter of Gailim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, 0 poor Anathoth. Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Giblet gather themselves to flee. As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his head against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled, And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fail by a mighty one.

    1. Since the Assyrian is to be tamed, the inhabitants of Zion are not to be afraid of him, (vs. 24; comp. 7:4; 37:6; 12:2).
    2. The Lord's indignation against His people will soon be past; then His anger will be turned toward destroying the Assyrian tyrant, (vs. 25; 26:20).
    3. The manner of his destruction will be so marvelous that it is comparable to what God did to the Egyptians in the Red Sea (vs. 26-27; Ex. 14:16, 21-30), and the great slaughter of Midian, (Judg. 7:19-25).
    4. Verses 28-32 describe the progressive march of the aggressor to the very gates of Jerusalem, where he shakes his fist in defiance of the God of heaven and earth.
    5. Then the prophet returns to the figure that was dropped in verse 19 and describes the catastrophe that overtakes the Assyrian in terms of the felling of a great forest, (vs. 33; comp. 18:5; 37:36-38; comp. Amos 2:9).
    6. It is the Lord (Jehovah of Hosts) Himself Who brings down the pride of the Assyrian by the power of His outstretched hand, (vs. 34; Ezek. 31:3, 10-14).